Seven Flowers and How They Shaped Our World

£24.50

Seven Flowers and How They Shaped Our World Author: Format: Hardback First Published: Published By: Atlantic Books
string(3) "304"
Pages: 304 Illustrations and other contents: 16pp colour plates, 23 b/w integrated illustrations ISBN: 9780857891648 Category:

The lotus, lily, sunflower, opium poppy, rose, tulip and orchid are explored in Potter’s usual style.
Where and when did these flowers originate? What is the nature of their power and how was it acquired? What use has been made of them in gardens, literature and art? These are both histories and detective stories, full of incident, unexpected revelations, and irony. The opium poppy, for example, returned to haunt its progenitors in the West; and while Confucius saw virtue and modesty in his native orchids, the ancient Greeks saw only sex.
These are flowers of life and death; of purity and passion; of greed, envy and virtue; of hope and consolation; of the beauty that drives men wild. All seven demonstrate the enduring ability of flowers to speak metaphorically – if we could only decode what they have to say.
Hardback
304 pages.

Weight0.63 kg
Author

Editor
Photographer
Format

Illustrators
Publisher

This literary delight will surely become compulsory reading for flower enthusiasts everywhere... Accompanied by magnificent colour plates and botanical etchings, this book is a voyage of discovery. A thoroughly rewarding read. * The Lady * Jennifer Potter is a wonderful writer on the history and culture of plants, plantsmen, and gardens... Any gardener, of the practical or armchair variety, will love this beautifully written survey. * Good Book Guide * Endlessly beguiling... Potter's range of reference is huge, from Dante to Ginsberg, from the flower-and-bird paintings of the Song dynasty to Manet and from early Christianity to Hindu creation myths... Every page yields up some delicious nuggets * Gardens Illustrated * Fascinating and highly readable * The Garden *

Author Biography

Jennifer Potter is the author of four novels and six works of non-fiction, most recently The Jamestown Brides, The Untold Story of England's 'maids for Virginia' (Atlantic, 2018). Other titles published by Atlantic include The Rose, A True History; Seven Flowers And How They Shaped Our World; and Strange Blooms, The Curious Lives and Adventures of the John Tradescants. A long-time reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and an accredited Royal Literary Fund (RLF) Consultant Fellow, she currently runs writing workshops for students and staff at British universities and was recently appointed one of the first RLF Writing Fellows at the British Library.